December 20, 2017 (Kemptville, ON) - A Métis artist shared details of her culture Monday with 100 high school students during the Upper Canada District School Board Indigenous Leadership Day at North Grenville Municipal Centre.

Jaime Koebel of Ottawa spoke to the students about Métis history, how the Métis culture came into being, the Métis language known as Michif, and the significance of Métis artistic practices, said Bill Montgomery, an Indigenous Education System Support Teacher with the Board.

The Métis culture grew from the historic fur trade, when European men involved in the trade intermixed with Indigenous women, and their offspring eventually formed a new Indigenous nation that controlled territory in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia.

Those in attendance learned how Métis art related to that nation’s history and accomplishments. The address relayed how intricate vests worn by Métis men on special occasions bore flowered patterns that were actually maps of Métis territory.

Students learned about the Métis art of “birch bark biting,” a technique in which artists can form detailed patterns – such as deer – in birch bark using only their teeth, as well as the Métis practice of tufting.